Written by John - OTR Saturday, 27 February 1999 00:00

Myself and Graeme ventured to cold and windy Lesser Hampden for this league game. Dumbarton kicked off with the wind behind on the excellent pitch.

John Bradford, on loan from Ayr, marked his debut with a goal following a corner in the 6th minute. He looked quite sprightly during his stint on the pitch which makes it all the more strange that he hasn't appeared for Ayr this season.

Following the goal, Queen's hardly threatened. Their best effort came from the winger Kevin 'Kev' Finlayson who hit a trundler by Kenny Meechan's right hand post.

Dumbarton on the hand made quite few chances but didn't trouble the Queen's keeper much.

Just before half time, the complexion of the game when Davie Stewart, who was having a nightmare of a game, was red carded for a wild challenge on Finlayson.

So the second half was a case of Dumbarton defending with the wind against them, hoping to score on the break. Solid defending kept Queen's at bay for most of the half. Willie Wilson and Stephen Jack made some superbly timed tackles in their own penalty box and Kenny Meechan held every cross ball he went for and pushed a shot over the bar in the final few minutes.

Joe Robertson's introduction for Martin Melvin saw Dumbarton make the odd counter attack. Mooney was unlucky not to get a penalty when Paul 'Donkey' Martin seemed to bundle him over in the box after beating two defenders but the referee ignored the appeals.

With two minutes to go, Queen's equalized through Donkey Martin who rose almost unchallenged to head in a free kick. Is was a bit of a sickener to lose the goal so late on, after all the solid defending. And I think it has finally put the nail in Dumbarton's promotion coffin.